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How to find topics for your blog posts
Many bloggers allow their sites to go fallow because they run out of ideas for new and meaningful blog posts.
To do great blogging you need great sources. One of the best sources for topics is other blogs. If you’re serious about blogging you should be subscribing to many good blogs – both in and outside your category.
I follow about a dozen blogs by people like Denise Wakeman, Chris Brogan, Seth Godin, Leo Babuta and David Silverman. That doesn’t mean I read them all, though I do read at least the headlines. They offer fresh topics that I might use for my own posts.
I also subscribe to corporate blogs or their Twitter posts. These are also rich sources for blog topics. Among the top corporate blogs, according to Technorati, are:
Let’s take Google’s blog, as an example, since I subscribe to that one. It’s prolific, producing long posts almost every weekday. Let’s review some of its headlines over the last few months. I’ll number them so we can refer back.
- Search options now on Google images
- Google Latitude on your iPhone
- Digital activism on YouTube
- Submit your ideas to change broadband
- Google tips for recent graduates
- How to steer clear of money scams
- Introducing Google Chrome OS
- What we’ve learned about spam
Those are not necessarily precise or direct topics you or I would write about, but that doesn’t mean we can’t benefit by extrapolating the larger point. Let’s review headline-by-headline how we might be inspired by Google’s blog topics and turn them into something that might be useful for our own blog posts.
Headline 1: Have we added any new options or enhancements to any of our products or services that would be of interest and value to those following our blog?
Headline 2: Do any of our products or services integrate with another company’s offerings? Do we have an affinity program with other companies our followers should know about?
Headline 3: Are we supporting any charities, non-profits, causes or movements our subscribers should be privy to? Are we instituting meaningful green business practices?
Headline 4: Are we engaging our followers by asking for their ideas and opinions? People like opportunities to participate. They like when others value their input. Starbucks uses Twitter to occasionally ask questions of their followers. One terrific question was: “What concerns you most?” The answer to that open-ended question can give an organization much insight.
Headline 5: Have we shared any tips with our customers related to our business or industry?
Headline 6: Do we help our subscribers avoid problems and potential rip-offs?
Headline 7: Is there a new product or service introduction to share? Perhaps a new store we’re opening.
Headline 8: What company or industry research do we possess that could be shared with readers who would find it interesting or useful?
You get the idea. And Google is just one of many good corporate blogs you can follow. Find good sources and mine them. Use your imagination to build on the inspiration of others – and keep that blog alive.
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